250 million years have passed and the continents of the Earth have shifted again to form Pangaea Ultima, the supercontinent that connects all the continents of the world together. The world has been seriously polluted, the sea levels have risen and Antarctica will only be a small continent of ice. The rest of the world will be experiencing extreme climates and all tigers have evolved into a new species in order to survive in their new environment. The new species are now called Predator tigers or Panthera tigris territo plunder, meaning ‘terrifying predator’ as these tigers have evolved into beasts that cannot be easily killed. The tigers that lived in captivity have all died so Predator tigers now live in the wild, near the southern side of Eurasia.
Taxonomy of Predator Tigers
Explanation
Kingdom: Animalia
Animals (one of the five kingdoms)
Phylum: Chordata
Animals in which their young are born alive and suckled
Class: Mammalia
Animals that suckle their young
Order: Carnivora
Meat eaters
Family: Felidae
Biological family of cats
Genus: Panthera
One of the four ‘big cats’ (lions, leopards, jaguars and tigers)
Species: Territo plunder
Scientific name of Predator tigers
Labelled diagram of Predator tiger, image hand drawn and scanned
Habitat
Area that Predator tigers will live in, image obtained from rst.gsfc.nasa.gov/Sect2/Sect2_1b.html
The map shows what the Earth could look like after 250 million years. All of the continents will have shifted into different places and China will form the southern side of Eurasia. Because of the closeness to the equator, the climate in Eurasia will be hot all-year round with a lot of direct sunlight. Although Predator tigers have such amazing adapting skills inherited from their ancestors they still need water sources to cool off once in a while so they now live along the southern coastline of Eurasia in order to easily access water sources (refer to the picture above). However, they don’t live on beaches but at the edge of forests so they can stay in the shade and can easily go for a swim or a drink as they have adapted to drink both salt and fresh water.
Not only that, Predator tigers also use the sea as a secondary hunting area. In the past, Siberian tigers only ate small animals and fish when there was a scarcity of food. However, when Predator tigers see a school of fish or other underwater creatures while swimming; they will dive into the water to catch the prey. A reason for this adaption is because Predator tigers aren’t always able to travel into forests to catch prey because of the intense heat so they simply dive into the water to catch some fish to eat. Because of their evolved teeth and digestive system, they are able to crunch and then digest the fish bones so they can eat the fishes with no particular problem.
Example of where Predator tigers will live in the future, image obtained from www.starregorseholidaypark.co.uk/picture_gall...
Unlike their ancestors, Predator tigers don’t live in the forests so they’ll need to travel a distance before they encounter prey. Siberian tigers use to have soft padded feet which allowed them to travel silently but Predator tigers can’t have the pads as the hot ground can easily damage the pads. Instead, they have retractable claws on their paws which lift their paws off the ground and away from the heat. Although Predator tigers can now easily kill their prey, due to the lack of food all the time, they tend to hunt together in order to share a kill as well as offer one another protection against potential prey.
In the past, the only predator of Siberian tigers was poachers. However, Predator tigers won’t be afraid of poachers in the future because of their geographical location as well as their camouflaging abilities. They are able to use their chromatophores to completely blend into their environments.
Adaptations for survival
Structural Adaptations Better paws
In the past, Siberian tigers walked on their toes which had soft pads allowing them to stalk their prey silently. However, the soft pads could be damaged by sharp material or hot surfaces which will be a nuisance in the future where the land will always be hot. Nowadays, the Predator tigers don’t need the soft pads to stalk their prey. Instead, their paws have sharp claws to aid them in holding onto prey as well as climbing trees. The small sharp claws can be retracted and extended at will which will allow the tigers to kill their prey easily. Moreover, the claws will replace themselves once a month in a painless process like a baby losing its teeth so the Predator tigers can hunt more freely. Not only that, the claws of Predator tigers will be more sharp and tough than before which allows them to break metal in one slash.
A possible reason for this adaptation would be that tigers rely heavily on their teeth to kill a prey but once its teeth is broken or the tiger itself is too old, the tiger will lose its will to kill animals and then will die. However, if the claws can be used to kill prey as well and can be replaced by new ones, the tigers will always be able to hunt without fear of breaking off its teeth.
Predator tiger claw, image created electronically
Changing skin
Only one out of twenty attacks was successful to the Siberian tigers in the past. In the future, the skin of Predator tigers will able to change colour like cephalopods (refer to the picture below). The skin of the Predator tigers will evolve to contain chromatophores, cells which contain many different light reflecting colors. The outer-most layer would be what we would normally see on an animal (refer to diagram below). However, whenever the animal detects a new environment, it will analyze the different aspects of the environment and then make its skin look just like it surroundings by revealing the color hidden beneath the outer-most layer. This technique will allow the Predator tigers to completely blend in to their environments, which will be excellent in both catching prey and avoiding predators.
A possible environmental pressure that led to this adaptation would be that Siberian tigers had such a hard time in catching prey. They had to plan very carefully before striking. However, in the future failure in catching a prey would mean that the animal would have to starve. By developing chromatophores, Predator tigers will be able to catch prey more easily and thus, not go into extinction.
An example of what Predator tigers can do in the future, image obtained from seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/OCEAN_PLANET/HTML/squid...
Behavioural Adaptations
Territory In the future the amount of territory for each Predator tiger would have decreased meaning a single Predator tiger cannot claim a big piece of land to itself. Because of the closeness in which the Predator tigers would live in the future, they have evolved to be able to live together in packs, instead of living by themselves. A big advantage in living together would also mean that they can hunt together. For example, a pack of Predator tigers found a prey and started to surround it. If one Predator tiger misses the lethal bite, another can attack again, increasing the percentage of killing the prey. Not only that, by living together Predator tigers are also able to increase their chances of survival by living together because they can protect one another. If a predator comes into their territory, they can split up and then either kill the predator or chase it away.
The most obvious environmental reason for this adaptation would be for survival. If the Predator tigers didn’t adapt to be able to live together, then they wouldn’t be able to easily catch a prey or even defend themselves. Only by living together can they help and protect one another.
Teaching cubs In the past Siberian tiger mothers didn’t have any experience with baby cubs. The male cubs would be left to wander by itself in which they were easily killed while the female cubs simply learned how to find a partner from the mother. However, in the future, both the male and female Predator tigers will take turns in teaching their cubs. The father would first teach the cubs how to kill prey with the lethal bite as well as how to use their claws while the mother would make sure the cubs master swimming the chromatophores in their body and be able to camouflage themselves when an enemy comes. By doing that, the cubs will learn the survival techniques at a young age and be able to help out with everyday life activities like hunting.
A possible reason for this adaptation would be that in the past, the cubs were left to learn everything by themselves which meant that they were easily killed. In the future, the Predator tigers can’t let their cubs learn by themselves as their population would go into extinction. Thus, they are forced to adapt this behavioural adaptation which makes them take good care of their cubs.
Physiological Adaptation
In the past the meat and fat that Siberian tigers ate was stored in their stomachs and digested slowly so that one meal could last a long time. However, since the food was digested slowly, only a limited amount of food could be stored at one time. In the future, Predator tigers will need to store a lot of food so their stomachs have evolved to produce stronger stomach acids. The acids will turn the stored food into a semi-liquid form which means that the stomach will be able to store more food. The flow of the semi-liquid will still be controlled by the orbicular muscle.
Since the stomach is stronger in Predator tigers, they are also able to digest fish whole which is a convenient as the Predator tigers live near the sea. A possible environmental pressure that led to this adaptation would be that the Predator tigers aren’t always able to find food to eat. Thus, they need to conserve as much as possible until the next meal and since there’s such an adequate source of fish around, the Predator tigers can eat those instead of hunting all the time. Bibliography 1. Wikipedia. (2010). Pangaea Ultima. Retrieved July 13, 2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangaea_Ultima
2. NASA Science. (2010). Continents in collision. Retrieved July 13, 2010 from http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2000/ast06oct_1/
3. Paleomap Project. (2010). Earth in 250 million years time. Retrieved July 13, 2010 from http://www.scotese.com/future2.htm
4. Youtube. (2010). Future Earth. Retrieved July 13, 2010 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYbTNFN3NBo&feature=related
250 million years have passed and the continents of the Earth have shifted again to form Pangaea Ultima, the supercontinent that connects all the continents of the world together. The world has been seriously polluted, the sea levels have risen and Antarctica will only be a small continent of ice. The rest of the world will be experiencing extreme climates and all tigers have evolved into a new species in order to survive in their new environment. The new species are now called Predator tigers or Panthera tigris territo plunder, meaning ‘terrifying predator’ as these tigers have evolved into beasts that cannot be easily killed. The tigers that lived in captivity have all died so Predator tigers now live in the wild, near the southern side of Eurasia.
Habitat
Not only that, Predator tigers also use the sea as a secondary hunting area. In the past, Siberian tigers only ate small animals and fish when there was a scarcity of food. However, when Predator tigers see a school of fish or other underwater creatures while swimming; they will dive into the water to catch the prey. A reason for this adaption is because Predator tigers aren’t always able to travel into forests to catch prey because of the intense heat so they simply dive into the water to catch some fish to eat. Because of their evolved teeth and digestive system, they are able to crunch and then digest the fish bones so they can eat the fishes with no particular problem.
Unlike their ancestors, Predator tigers don’t live in the forests so they’ll need to travel a distance before they encounter prey. Siberian tigers use to have soft padded feet which allowed them to travel silently but Predator tigers can’t have the pads as the hot ground can easily damage the pads. Instead, they have retractable claws on their paws which lift their paws off the ground and away from the heat. Although Predator tigers can now easily kill their prey, due to the lack of food all the time, they tend to hunt together in order to share a kill as well as offer one another protection against potential prey.
In the past, the only predator of Siberian tigers was poachers. However, Predator tigers won’t be afraid of poachers in the future because of their geographical location as well as their camouflaging abilities. They are able to use their chromatophores to completely blend into their environments.
Adaptations for survival
Structural Adaptations
Better paws
In the past, Siberian tigers walked on their toes which had soft pads allowing them to stalk their prey silently. However, the soft pads could be damaged by sharp material or hot surfaces which will be a nuisance in the future where the land will always be hot. Nowadays, the Predator tigers don’t need the soft pads to stalk their prey. Instead, their paws have sharp claws to aid them in holding onto prey as well as climbing trees. The small sharp claws can be retracted and extended at will which will allow the tigers to kill their prey easily. Moreover, the claws will replace themselves once a month in a painless process like a baby losing its teeth so the Predator tigers can hunt more freely. Not only that, the claws of Predator tigers will be more sharp and tough than before which allows them to break metal in one slash.
A possible reason for this adaptation would be that tigers rely heavily on their teeth to kill a prey but once its teeth is broken or the tiger itself is too old, the tiger will lose its will to kill animals and then will die. However, if the claws can be used to kill prey as well and can be replaced by new ones, the tigers will always be able to hunt without fear of breaking off its teeth.
Changing skin
Only one out of twenty attacks was successful to the Siberian tigers in the past. In the future, the skin of Predator tigers will able to change colour like cephalopods (refer to the picture below). The skin of the Predator tigers will evolve to contain chromatophores, cells which contain many different light reflecting colors. The outer-most layer would be what we would normally see on an animal (refer to diagram below). However, whenever the animal detects a new environment, it will analyze the different aspects of the environment and then make its skin look just like it surroundings by revealing the color hidden beneath the outer-most layer. This technique will allow the Predator tigers to completely blend in to their environments, which will be excellent in both catching prey and avoiding predators.
A possible environmental pressure that led to this adaptation would be that Siberian tigers had such a hard time in catching prey. They had to plan very carefully before striking. However, in the future failure in catching a prey would mean that the animal would have to starve. By developing chromatophores, Predator tigers will be able to catch prey more easily and thus, not go into extinction.
Behavioural Adaptations
Territory
In the future the amount of territory for each Predator tiger would have decreased meaning a single Predator tiger cannot claim a big piece of land to itself. Because of the closeness in which the Predator tigers would live in the future, they have evolved to be able to live together in packs, instead of living by themselves. A big advantage in living together would also mean that they can hunt together. For example, a pack of Predator tigers found a prey and started to surround it. If one Predator tiger misses the lethal bite, another can attack again, increasing the percentage of killing the prey. Not only that, by living together Predator tigers are also able to increase their chances of survival by living together because they can protect one another. If a predator comes into their territory, they can split up and then either kill the predator or chase it away.
The most obvious environmental reason for this adaptation would be for survival. If the Predator tigers didn’t adapt to be able to live together, then they wouldn’t be able to easily catch a prey or even defend themselves. Only by living together can they help and protect one another.
Teaching cubs
In the past Siberian tiger mothers didn’t have any experience with baby cubs. The male cubs would be left to wander by itself in which they were easily killed while the female cubs simply learned how to find a partner from the mother. However, in the future, both the male and female Predator tigers will take turns in teaching their cubs. The father would first teach the cubs how to kill prey with the lethal bite as well as how to use their claws while the mother would make sure the cubs master swimming the chromatophores in their body and be able to camouflage themselves when an enemy comes. By doing that, the cubs will learn the survival techniques at a young age and be able to help out with everyday life activities like hunting.
A possible reason for this adaptation would be that in the past, the cubs were left to learn everything by themselves which meant that they were easily killed. In the future, the Predator tigers can’t let their cubs learn by themselves as their population would go into extinction. Thus, they are forced to adapt this behavioural adaptation which makes them take good care of their cubs.
Physiological Adaptation
In the past the meat and fat that Siberian tigers ate was stored in their stomachs and digested slowly so that one meal could last a long time. However, since the food was digested slowly, only a limited amount of food could be stored at one time. In the future, Predator tigers will need to store a lot of food so their stomachs have evolved to produce stronger stomach acids. The acids will turn the stored food into a semi-liquid form which means that the stomach will be able to store more food. The flow of the semi-liquid will still be controlled by the orbicular muscle.
Since the stomach is stronger in Predator tigers, they are also able to digest fish whole which is a convenient as the Predator tigers live near the sea. A possible environmental pressure that led to this adaptation would be that the Predator tigers aren’t always able to find food to eat. Thus, they need to conserve as much as possible until the next meal and since there’s such an adequate source of fish around, the Predator tigers can eat those instead of hunting all the time.
Bibliography
1. Wikipedia. (2010). Pangaea Ultima. Retrieved July 13, 2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangaea_Ultima
2. NASA Science. (2010). Continents in collision. Retrieved July 13, 2010 from http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2000/ast06oct_1/
3. Paleomap Project. (2010). Earth in 250 million years time. Retrieved July 13, 2010 from http://www.scotese.com/future2.htm
4. Youtube. (2010). Future Earth. Retrieved July 13, 2010 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYbTNFN3NBo&feature=related